Mysterious Change of Mind

Mind still has unknown ways of reaction to the society’s external influences. A distinctive one is changing one’s mind defined as a releasing mechanism in our mental representations. Our minds are subdued to this phenomenon either because we are wishing for a change or because something happens in our life which is based on a change. The changes of one’s mind can be the result of a sudden decision or a gradual one, most of them developing in the subconscious area.

For every one of us becoming conscious of its “presence” this common process of our mental life generates a series of questions. First of all is what elements determine the change of one’s mind. Well, the answer is based on the so called “7 R” and on certain equilibrium resulted from the simultaneous action of the first 6 R and the “weakness” of the last one, the resistance.

Reason – a rational individual will always try to identify all the relevant aspects of an event and to separate them into pros and cons;

“Recruiting” – the person is gathering the significant information;

Resonance – this part interferes when an individual feels that a “relationship” exists between him and someone who intends to provoke a change of one’s mind;

Re-descriptions – a change of one’s mind act becomes convincing by the moment when it is presented in different ways;

Resources and Rewards – the changing phenomenon can be launched faster when an individual detects considerable advantages for him;

Reality – any event from the society which can affect a lot of people it works as a influent element;

Resistance – if this process happens rather naturally and easier in our youth, it becomes more and more difficult in time because of our powerful convictions and our resistance to change;

The change of one’s mind implies two axes of action. The first one is represented by the effort involved in which can be direct in politician’s case or indirect for artists, philosophers and inventors. To be more specific…if a political leader needs to address directly to succeed in changing one’s mind, an artist, for example, influences people’s mental universe not by direct contact but by colors, sounds, lights, poems or body movements.

The second one, the audience composition, is referring to the homogeny or the inconsistency character of the listeners. What does it means this idea? When a person is talking to a large and various groups it has to use a simple “story” and to adjust his speech so every one could understand him. In the other case, as small and consistent groups, he can allow himself to make use even of an “elevated” language and even the privilege to transmit to the audience a complex message. Both cases requires for the speaker to have linguistic and interpersonal intelligence.

If someone hopes to change another person’s mind, it’s crucial to learn everything about her. So an individual concerned about logic, consistency, sincerity and verbal expressions has to be approached in a different manner than the one interested by emotions, respect, subtlety and nonverbal language.

The main idea of this topic is that we have to maintain ourselves open mind to external influences but in the same time to make an effort to learn more about our mind possibilities. A person who knows very well his own mind he/she has real chances to efficient change his own mind. – Psychologist, Nicoleta Cramaruc